By Kim Rahn
Police are set to be given the right to initiate investigations independent of the prosecution, except for specific cases such as election offences.
The Prime Minister’s Office announced a compromise Sunday on the investigation rights issue, based on which a bipartisan task force for judicial reform will make a final decision on revisions to the Criminal Litigation Law.
The compromise comes amid a head-on collision between the prosecution and police, with the former strongly opposing a plan to empower the latter.
At the request of the task force, the Prime Minister’s Office decided that police should have the right to begin investigations independently, except for those into Election and National Security Law violations. For those cases, police will be under the supervision of prosecutors as they are now.
Currently, only prosecutors have the mandate to launch, supervise and complete investigations and then to indict suspects.
“Prosecutors have said that they need to supervise investigations into cases involving elections and national security, claiming these can be politically misused. Police have agreed on the limitation,” a member of the task force said.
Police and prosecution have long been in conflict with each other over the issue. The former have called for the right to initiate and proceed with investigations as well as for the abolishment of a clause obliging them to follow the instructions of prosecutors.
The prosecution claims that sharing investigation rights will result in it losing its ability to supervise inquiries.
“The revision plan is going too far by removing prosecutors’ supervision rights. If the National Assembly is to give police the right to launch an investigation, it should devise measures to control them, such as a prosecutorial right to recommend punitive action for the police,” a prosecutor at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said.
Prosecutors of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office met last Wednesday to voice their opposition to the revision plan, and submitted a written opinion to Prosecutor General Kim Joon-gyu.
Those in other district and regional prosecutors’ offices, including Busan, Gwangju, Suwon, Daegu and Ulsan, held similar gatherings.
The latest general meeting was held Sunday by some 150 prosecutors of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, and was the first since 2005 when one was held on the same issue.
That meeting was held as the assembly also tried to give more investigation rights to police but scrapped its plan following protests from the prosecution.
In the meantime, most of the task force’s other judicial reform plans have been scrapped, including the one to remove the Central Investigation Department at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, which opposition lawmakers claim has been subject to political influence.